Israel weighs Hamas offer of 60-day Gaza truce and hostage release
The offer, brokered by Egypt and Qatar, would see Hamas exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners. But an Israeli political source insisted all captives must be freed for the war to end.
Talks to pause the conflict gained traction last week after Israel announced plans for a new offensive to seize control of Gaza City, the enclave's shattered urban centre.
DETAILS OF THE PROPOSAL
A Hamas official said the deal envisaged the release of 200 Palestinian convicts, along with women and minors held in Israeli jails. In return, Hamas would hand over 10 living hostages and 18 bodies.
Two Egyptian security sources confirmed the details, adding Hamas also sought the release of hundreds of Gaza detainees.
Israel says 50 hostages remain in Gaza, including 20 alive. 'Israel's policy is consistent and has not changed. Israel demands the release of all 50 hostages … we are in the final decisive stage of Hamas and will not leave any hostage behind,' the political source said.
NETANYAHU WEIGHS RESPONSE
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to convene discussions on the offer, with a decision likely within two days, officials said.
Qatar's foreign ministry said the deal would include 'a pathway to a comprehensive agreement to end the war,' alongside partial Israeli withdrawals and expanded humanitarian aid.
Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff previously advanced the plan, but talks broke down in July over details.
ISRAELI COMMANDERS PLAN PUSH INTO GAZA CITY
Even as politicians deliberated, Defence Minister Israel Katz met commanders to review battle plans, Israeli broadcaster Kan reported.
The plans included four phases: building humanitarian infrastructure in southern Gaza, evacuation of Gaza City, its encirclement, and a final ground push into the city.
Thousands of civilians have fled Gaza City in recent days, fearing an imminent offensive.
On Tuesday, Israeli strikes and shelling killed at least 20 Palestinians, Gaza health officials said.
MIXED REACTIONS
At shelters in Khan Younis, displaced families voiced both scepticism and hope.
'I expect the occupation to reject the proposal, as always,' said Abdallah Al-Khawaja. But Awad Labde, also displaced, said: 'I expect a positive response from Israel this time.'
DOMESTIC PRESSURE ON NETANYAHU
The prospect of an offensive has triggered some of the largest protests in Israel since the war began, with tens of thousands urging a deal to free the captives.
Netanyahu faces competing pressures: far-right allies such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir oppose a truce, while hostage families demand immediate action.
Hamas official Izzat El-Reshiq said the truce was an interim accord leading to wider talks. A Palestinian source added Hamas accepted the offer without new conditions, unlike past rounds.
But wide gaps remain. Israel wants Hamas to disarm and its leaders to leave Gaza — demands the group has so far rejected.
The war erupted when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel's offensive has since killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced most of the enclave's 2.2 million residents.
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Straits Times
23 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Can Israel end its war with Hamas with a new push into Gaza City?
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Palestinians rush for cover as smoke billows after an Israeli strike on a building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Aug 20. JERUSALEM - Israel's government has ordered a military takeover of Gaza City in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a final push to topple Hamas after almost two years of war. The decision was followed by an Aug 20 announcement by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that it was calling up around 60,000 reserve soldiers. The takeover plan is controversial among some of Israel's main allies in Europe, who worry about further harm to Gazan civilians, and among many Israelis, who fear such an operation will endanger the lives of their country's soldiers and the remaining hostages in Gaza. Critics of the plan are calling for an immediate truce. Hamas said on Aug 18 it had accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar that Israel has not yet responded to. Mr Netanyahu said Hamas' acceptance showed the group was 'under immense pressure' and wary of the looming Gaza City offensive. That raised the possibility that Israel was, at least to some degree, saber-rattling in an effort to generate a diplomatic alternative closer to its terms. How has Gaza City been affected by the war so far? The Gaza Strip's de-facto capital has seen limited Israeli incursions in the war so far. It is part of the 25 per cent of the territory that Israeli ground forces have largely skirted out of concern for the well-being of hostages believed to be kept there by Hamas fighters. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. 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The subsequent fighting in Gaza has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, and more than 450 Israeli soldiers, according to the IDF. While Gaza City has not been spared the displacement and privation suffered by Palestinians, parts of it retain some semblance of normal life. Structural damage is widespread, but many neighborhoods remain intact, in contrast to other Gazan cities that have been flattened by Israeli bombs and bulldozers. Food markets and some schools function. Gaza City's pre-war population of about 800,000 has been swollen to about a million by Palestinians who fled fighting in outlying districts such as Jabalya and Beit Hanoun. They have been living with relatives, in UN shelters or in shuttered schools. There are four partially functioning hospitals in Gaza City, one of which, Shifa, was stormed and searched by the IDF in 2024. What is Israel's Gaza City takeover plan? Israeli officials have been closed-lipped about their tactics. That could be due to efforts to gather intelligence on locations of 50 hostages still held in Gaza, 20 of whom are thought to be alive and at risk of execution by their captors. According to Mr Eli Cohen, a member of Mr Netanyahu's security Cabinet, the focus of Israel's military operation will be a core of Gaza City measuring 20 sq km, approximately the size of a provincial town in the West. Speaking to Israel's Channel 14 TV, Mr Cohen said the IDF was given six to eight weeks to convince or compel Palestinian civilians to leave Gaza City before the main assault begins. That suggested the IDF will storm the city by early October, roughly coinciding with the war's second anniversary. The offensive stage of the operation will take 'months, not years,' Ms Gila Gamliel, another security Cabinet minister, told Tel Aviv radio station 103 FM. 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Mr Al-Haddad is widely expected by Israeli forces to mount a stubborn and sophisticated defence of Gaza City, aware of the significance of its fall and of his own death or capture. Israeli officials estimate that today Hamas has 20,000 fighters – compared with a pre-war figure of roughly 35,000. Though many of them are inexperienced and undertrained new recruits, Hamas has a network of tunnels and bunkers, as well as elevated gun nests on balconies and rooftops, to mount hit-and-run ambushes on Israeli ground forces. Unlike in other areas of the Gaza Strip, Hamas still retains military-grade weaponry – such as assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mines – in Gaza City. The Iran-backed group is likely to try to capture soldiers in order to add to the hostage tally and depress Israeli morale. Hamas has threatened to shoot hostages rather than see them rescued. After many months of bitter urban battles, the Israelis have developed new methods, including for tackling tunnels. They may try to level the playing field by knocking down buildings with air strikes, though that could depend on whether civilians are successfully moved out first. Hamas has urged residents of Gaza City to stay put. Even if there is an exodus, it could include Hamas fighters, and perhaps hostages, disguised as civilians. It will be a challenge for the IDF to screen people while encouraging a mass movement to displaced-persons camps in southern Gaza. What do critics of the plan say? World powers and Middle East countries have condemned the Gaza City plan as a needless protraction of the war that will deepen civilian suffering and starvation in Gaza. Much of the censure hinges on concern that the plan heralds a return to Israeli occupation of the territory. Mr Netanyahu insists that Israel, which unilaterally pulled soldiers and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, does not want to stay long-term and govern Palestinians there. But his hazy projections about who might succeed Hamas in ruling the shattered enclave, and the fact that he relies on far-right coalition partners who want Gaza annexed and settled by Israelis, have dented his credibility abroad. The US has said it backs Israel's military plans and will help a new aid-distribution network, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, cope with Palestinians displaced by the big advance. But acknowledging the risks of the operation, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee told Piers Morgan Uncensored: 'It could go sideways. I think everybody understands that there's no guarantee that it will go well.' BLOOMBERG
AsiaOne
an hour ago
- AsiaOne
UN chief urges immediate Gaza ceasefire, warns of casualties from Israeli operation, World News
TOKYO — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday (Aug 21) called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City. "It is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza," that was necessary "to avoid the death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause," Guterres said in Japan where he is attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Israel, which has called up tens of thousands of army reservists, is pressing ahead with its plan to seize Gaza's biggest urban centre despite international criticism of an operation likely to force the displacement of many more Palestinians. Israel currently holds about 75 per cent of the Gaza Strip. The war in Gaza began on Oct 7, 2023, when gunmen led by Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages including children into Gaza, according to Israeli figures. Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 60,000 Palestinians, according to enclave's health ministry. Guterres called for the unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas. He also urged Israel to reverse a decision to expand "illegal" settlement construction in the West Bank. The Israeli settlement plan, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, was announced last week and received the final go-ahead from a Defence Ministry planning commission on Wednesday. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the construction would isolate Palestinian communities living in the area and undermine the possibility of a two-state solution. [[nid:721602]]
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
UN chief urges immediate Gaza ceasefire, warns of casualties from Israeli operation
TOKYO: United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday (Aug 21) called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City. "It is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza" that was necessary "to avoid the death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause", Guterres said in Japan, where he is attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Israel, which has called up tens of thousands of army reservists, is pressing ahead with its plan to seize Gaza's biggest urban centre despite international criticism of an operation likely to force the displacement of many more Palestinians. Israel currently holds about 75 per cent of the Gaza Strip. The war in Gaza began on Oct 7, 2023, when gunmen led by Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, including children, into Gaza, according to Israeli figures. Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 60,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. Guterres called for the unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas. He also urged Israel to reverse a decision to expand "illegal" settlement construction in the West Bank. The Israeli settlement plan, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, was announced last week and received the final go-ahead from a Defence Ministry planning commission on Wednesday.
